Conscious and unconscious

The conscious and unconscious are useful ways of considering divisions of the mind. What follows is modelled on the ideas of Jung.

Conscious

The conscious part of the mind is what we are aware of. It's where we make decisions, make deliberate choices, consider options, and make plans.

It is also the smallest part.

Unconscious

The unconscious part of the mind is the part of which we aren't directly aware, but which also heavily influences or controls what we do. It's divided into two:

• The personal unconscious, and
• The collective unconscious

Because we're not directly aware of these, it's hard to work out exactly what's going on.

Personal unconscious

The personal unconscious is the realm of habits, conditioning, and forgotten memories. It's called personal because it's entirely dependent on, and developed from, our personal experience and how we internally process it. Therefore it is unique to us. No one else has exactly the same experiences, and therefore each personal conscious develops uniquely.

In the world of BDSM, for example, everyone has their own idea of what constitutes a dominant or a submissive. When we see one we immediately recognise them and respond to them without thinking, be it with sexual arousal, a desire to abase ourselves, or whatever. But while the response may be the same for many people, what the actual image is which triggers this response can vary considerably. Some might see a dominant as a bald man in leather chaps, and others might see a woman in extreme high heels clad in red latex.

The image is frequently learned, not built-in. And it's frequently learned without us realising it's happening.

Collective unconscious

The collective unconscious is more profound than the personal unconscious, in the sense that it comes from what is built-in to us purely by virtue of being human.